What Goes In Must Come Out

"The next time you're tempted to groan, you might try to laugh instead.  It will extend your life and make the lives of all those around you more enjoyable."
Joseph B. Wirthlin, "Come What May, and Love It," October 2008

It's 7:20 and I am ready for bed.  Today was just one of those days.  When he wasn't getting into mischief, Jack was incredibly fussy and clingy.  I was recently reminded of the above quoted talk and found that it was very applicable today.  There were several opportunities to groan and while I might not have quite succeeded at laughing at the time, I feel like I could have had much more negative reactions than I did.

Jack recently learned to give kisses.  He will only give them to me, though, because Lewis is bearded.  They are open-mouthed and insanely slobbery, but I love them.

Allow me to illustrate.

First of all you should know that Jack is your classic baby.  Anything that he can get into his mouth, he will put in his mouth.  I even caught him licking up his own spit up off the kitchen floor once - sick, right?

Before he decided he had to be in my lap full time today, Jack was playing quietly on the floor in the TV room.  Too quietly.  I paused in my cleaning of the kitchen to go see what he was doing.  I discovered him with a clump of carpet in his hand and little bits of it in his mouth.  Apparently we have had some loose stuff around the back door.

Later when I was trying to feed him before his afternoon nap I discovered he still had a piece left in his mouth.  Fabulous.  I will discover tomorrow how much carpet made it to his stomach.

And then there was dinner.

A few weeks back I made the executive decision to tuck his bib behind the tray to his high chair when he eats, because if it is on top of the tray, it ends up in his mouth.  He was having his regular amount of food for dinner - some oatmeal and a few ounces of a vegetable, in this case, butternut squash.  He was eating it all hungrily and wasn't even making as big of a mess as he usually does.  He was almost finished and Lewis had just come home from school.

And then he burped and it came back up.  ALL of it.  And maybe a little extra, because I'm pretty sure I didn't feed him that much.  Since his bib was tucked into the tray, the spit up went all the way down his front, and pooled at his seat.

Remember to laugh remember to laugh remember to laugh.

Especially since this was the happiest I had seen Jack all day.  He thought it was hilarious.

I think I just sat there and stared for several minutes, trying to figure out what exactly to do.

What goes better with an orange bib than orange food?

Thank goodness Lewis had come home when he had.  He ran a bath while I gingerly removed Jack's tray, bib, clothes, and diaper.  Actually, Lewis had to help with the clothes.  He unsnapped the onesie and pulled it off while I held Jack at arms length.  Of course Jack picked that moment to not bear any of his weight for the first time ever.

Into the tub Jack went and his high chair made its way to the shower to be hosed down.  No harm done.

Baby seats were made to be cleaned.

Right now he is sleeping peacefully.

And I am laughing.